Tina Turner died this Wednesday in her adopted country of Switzerland. The 83-year-old singer had suffered a series of serious illnesses that even prompted her to consider seeking euthanasia. Let us imagine that in the end he chose to resist and fight.
Tina was essentially a survivor. Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, she left her life in rural southern Tennessee to settle with her mother in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to singing in church, she also frequented the city’s nightclubs. It was there in 1957 that he met Ike Turner, leader of the Kings of Rhythm, with whom he began singing. Ike was a veteran living in a tough business that always bordered on the illegal; He recognized that there was a vein in Tina’s interpretive ferocity and made her his wife in 1962.
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Like Ike and Tina Turner, they landed hits on the rhythm and blues charts, that is, on the African American market. Ike’s move, preferring to move between record companies, did nothing to establish them as leading figures. In 1966, however, they accepted an offer to record with producer Phil Spector, who actually only wanted to work with Tina. The result was an orgasmic song, “River Deep, Mountain High,” which flopped in the United States but made an impact in Europe. In the UK, Tina became a cult artist. The fascination with Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart or David Bowie led to their arrival in the mainstream.
The Rolling Stones hired Ike and Tina Turner for their 1969 US tour: white audiences marveled at the charged sexuality of Tina and her dancers, the Ikettes. Rarely thinking beyond the short-term, Ike understood it was time to break into the rock market. They did it with sizzling versions of hits like “Proud Mary” (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and “Come Together” (The Beatles), as well as hard-hitting originals like “Nutbush City Limits,” a creation by Tina that celebrated her heritage.
What Tina was silent about: Life with Ike, a cocaine addict, was hell. And she herself was infected by the environmental sin and starred in episodes of jealous violence. Until he left Ike in Dallas (Texas) in 1976 and filed for divorce. That would be the central point of her made-up autobiography, which would later be reflected in the corresponding biopic – in which she was played by Angela Bassett – and in the musical Tina.
He had to start over and accept all manner of food bowling, flirt with disco music and perform in nightclubs or, to his eternal shame, apartheid South Africa. It was not easy: that very day, in 1979, he made his debut in Spain with a concert at the Palacio de los Deportes in Barcelona… which he did not fill (he returned several times, already with public success). ).
That same year he connected with Roger Davies, an Australian manager who devised a clever plan to boost his career. Signed with the multinational Capital Records, she devoted herself to creating albums of selected songs to highlight her image as a sensual and confident woman. To ensure the power of its offering, it had various producers covering everything from techno-pop to rock. His album Private Dancer (1984) sold millions of copies and was the prototype of a new way of understanding broad-spectrum pop that was later emulated in the release of Whitney Houston and other divas.
It dominated the airwaves and stages in the ’80s and ’90s. The truth is, she didn’t stop there: she signed up for duets with her British fans and made a powerful appearance in a movie from the Mad Max saga. And he rebuilt his life with a record executive, German Erwin Bach, with whom he shared Buddhist beliefs. She retired in 2000, although she still played on a farewell tour in 2008. At that point she was already living in Switzerland, a country that was good to her. Out of gratitude, he naturalized as a Swiss citizen in 2013 and renounced his US citizenship.
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